Vogue 9505 - 1970's summer dress

Man, good to see ya! It's been a while! I have so much to update you on, and could ramble on for days, but for now I will start with my new favorite summer dress.

Meet Vogue 9505 I found this vintage pattern in a second hand store for 3 bucks in my size (12) and having a pattern pre-cut was pretty awesome.

As you can see I shortened the dress by 4 inches, it came off too "nightgown" on me that long. I also omitted the bow.

I made it out of knit jersey from the same second hand store, and it's so fucking comfortable!

It has pockets, naturally. Even though it has long sleeves, it's pretty floaty for my style and since it's not black I consider it a summer dress.

I did need to make some mods to the dress. The OG pattern is pretty much a sack. Straight down from armpit to hem line. I do not look good in a sack. I started out by carving out a half moon shape at my waist.

It still had too much fabric at the top so I took 2 inches out of the armpit and graded it into the upper arm, making the puff of the sleeve start lower, but I like it. I don't LOVE what happened to the gathers around the neck, but I'm not going to do anything about it.

When I started making this dress it was just going to be a test run, but it actually came out wearable for once! I didn't see that coming so the whole thing is sewn up using black thread instead of blue. OOPS

Since the OG pattern called for a bow in center front I have a seam. I knew I wasn't going to use the bow, but still blindly followed the instructions when it told me to put it there and not in the back. OOPS! The neck line is my favorite scoop I've ever worn in my life though! I can bend and move and my bra strap never shows and the whole thing stays close to my body so it never turns into a peep show, which is great for 2 year old wrangling.

I used much wider elastic than the pattern called for. The instructions have you use bias tape and thread it in through there. I went for a good full inch since I'm not really a delicate person and like more of a cuff. It does bunch up a lot and I keep thinking about adding in some stitching to keep it in place, but I also love the dress so much I don't want to ruin it trying to make it better.

I did use some bias tape for the edge though. No real good reason. I just did.

I used a t-shirt hem for the hem of the dress. I tried a few different hems out, and my standard lace hem came out a bit stiff, and everything else I tried had too many waves.

It was the first piece of clothing I got to stamp with my custom stamp!

I've been making some hats for a local bike shop, I'll go over that in my next post, but for now, look at the stamp!

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About Me

I only make patterns that have pockets and sleeves, and if they don't come with them I will walk you through how I added them. Take inspiration from my style, or just use me as a reference for great pattern finds, either way you will learn a thing or two from all my wins and fails from my sewing adventurers.